I
am thrilled to be here today to talk about navigating the Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly of publishing. Many, many wonderful people helped me on my road to
publication—sharing information, resources, and their experience—and I jumped
at the chance to do the same when Emily and Dean offered me the opportunity.

With
so many indie presses, conflicting information, and scam artists out there, Dean
and Emily asked me to stop by and talk about what I learned while I was
searching for a publisher and why I made the decision to work with a small
press with a questionable (internet) reputation.

Why would
someone work with a small press instead of just self-publishing? You'd earn a
higher royalty rate and have full editorial control.

Again, when comparing different publishing opportunities, one has
to look at each opportunity individually (and by that I don’t mean “indie
press” as a single option, but ABC press versus XYZ press, regardless of each
publisher’s size) and then contrast the pros and cons. When considering
different publishing options, there are several factors to look at, which I’ve
detailed below. When thinking about self-publishing, consider yourself the
publishing house and ask yourself about your capacity in these different areas.

Royalty Rate: this is the amount you
make on each book sold. There is plenty of good information on the internet
about the various industry standards, which vary by publisher size and by book
format (e-book royalty rates tend to be higher than print royalty rates) and authors
should familiarize themselves with all of this information. But keep this in
mind—the amount of money you actually make from your book(s) depends on a lot
of factors—sale price and number of copies sold being the biggest two. A
self-publisher may make 75% of the sale price on each copy sold, but only have
the marketing and distribution support to sell 100 copies, versus making 15% on
each book but having the supports to sell 10,000 copies with a large publisher.

Advance: there’s a lot of misunderstanding about advances—they are
basically a salary advance or loan that you don’t have to pay back (though
sometimes you do have to pay it back). That is, this is an amount of money paid
against future royalty earnings, and you don’t get paid any more money
(royalties) until your book has “earned out” the advance. So here’s the thing
about advances: they aren’t additional money you make on your book; it’s simply
like taking the lump sum lottery payout versus opting for the monthly or yearly
distribution. An advance is good for the author in that it ensures that you get
paid something for your work. That is, if your book never sells a single copy,
then you still got something for it (except in those cases where publishers
have demanded the advance back, which have happened). But, if your book has the
ability to be a good seller, then you’ll still make the same amount of money
through royalties, even if you don’t get an advance. The ability to earn out an
advance is usually the critical deciding factor in whether or not a publisher
will publish future works by an author and can be a great source of stress.

Distribution: Libraries mostly only
order books that are available through two distributor’s catalogs: Baker &
Taylor and Ingram. Bookstores mostly only order books that are a) returnable to
the distributor and b) are recommended to them by the publisher’s sales rep,
which means a self-published book has almost no chance to end up in either
place unless the author a) pays for the extended distribution offered through
CreateSpace and other such publishers and/or b) contacts bookstores directly
and ask them to carry the book on a consignment basis (which means the author
buys the books, gives them to the bookstore, and then the bookstore and author
split any sales money). Many small presses use Print on Demand services to
print books, which means their books are not returnable—which means limited to
no bookstore placement. Notice I said “many,” not all. Some small presses do
take returns, even if they use Print on Demand. Eternal Press, for instance,
does accept returns. Library placement depends on both placement in the Baker
& Taylor or Ingram catalog and reviews. Libraries tend to stock books that
are “hot titles”—they’re popular and frequently requested/widely read.

Now, having said that, here’s another secret of the publishing
industry: for most small press and self-published authors, sales of print books
are a very small percent of their overall sales. Small presses and self-published
authors are rockin’ the e-book market and traditional publishers have been slow
to follow. So the lack of print book distribution is not necessarily the death
knell for a book. If you know how to connect with e-book readers and market
your book online, then you stand a very good chance of having robust e-book
sales to rival or outstrip many print books’ sales.

Cover Art: Look at the publisher’s
cover art—do you like the look and feel of it? If you are considering
self-publishing, do you have the capacity to produce an eye-catching cover or
the funds to hire someone to do it? The truth is, covers sell books and
whichever publishing option you choose, you want to be sure you get a great
cover.

Editing: Does the publishing house (and, if self-publishing, this means
YOU) produce a good quality, error-free product? Do their books look and feel
professional and attractive/eye-catching? Even books produced by large
publishers can contain errors—in this day and age of trying to reduce costs,
editors at big houses are working on multiple books and are being forced to
complete the editing process in less and less time. In terms of book quality
and craftsmanship, this is an area where many small presses excel—they take the
time to produce craftsman quality books, because these are people who genuinely
love books. Use the “look inside” feature on Amazon to read a sample excerpt of
different publishers’ books to get a feel for quality.

Fit: Publishing houses tend to focus on particular genres—Tor is known
for its Science Fiction and Fantasy. Harlequin is known for Romance. Sometimes
an editor falls in love with a book that isn’t quite the company’s usual type
of material and accepts it for publication anyway. But this can be a
problem—romance readers are, by and large, very different from epic fantasy
readers, which means the publisher won’t be able to tap into their existing
market to sell your book if they stray from their core audience. A small
publisher with strong roots in the Sci Fi community is going to have better
luck marketing your space opera than Harlequin, despite the fact that Harlequin
is much larger.

As you can see, there are so many things to consider—a small press
may not pay an advance but will give you more than the six weeks that is
standard to make your book a success. One small press may produce so-so covers
but may provide the opportunity to sell your books at twelve genre-specific
conventions per year (a GREAT marketing/distribution opportunity). A small
press may not accept bookstore returns like a large publisher, but using PoD
printing ensures your book will never go out of print. A large publisher might
insist on having the right of first refusal on future works and a small press
may be interested in securing the rights for just this one book. There are pros
and cons to ever deal and this is why each one should be evaluated on its own
merits, rather than looked at as part of some stereotypical standard.

Biography:

Terri Bruce has been
making up adventure stories for as long as she can remember and won her first
writing award when she was twelve. Like Anne Shirley, she prefers to make
people cry rather than laugh, but is happy if she can do either. She produces
fantasy and adventure stories from a haunted house in New England where she
lives with her husband and three cats. Her
first novel, HEREAFTER—a contemporary fantasy about a woman’s search for
redemption in the afterlife—will be released by Eternal Press later this year.
Visit her on the web at www.terribruce.net.

Thirty-six year old Irene Dunphy didn't plan on dying any
time soon, but that’s exactly what happens when she makes the mistake of
getting behind the wheel after a night of bar-hopping with friends. She finds
herself stranded on Earth as a ghost, where food has no taste, the alcohol doesn’t
get you drunk, and the only person who can see her is a fourteen year old
boy-genius who can see dead people, thanks to a book he found in his school
library. This sounds suspiciously like hell to Irene, so she prepares to strike
out for the Great Beyond. The problem is, while this side has exorcism, ghost
repellents, and soul devouring demons, the other side has three-headed hell
hounds, final judgment, and eternal torment. If only there was a third option…

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Speculitive Fiction Member Since 2011

About Me

I've lived from New York to California, Washington to Texas, and several places in between. Love the Rocky Mountains, where I spent over 18 years, and I enjoy the heartland. I currently reside in Mississippi with my wife and two of my five children and two cats. A dog would be most welcome, but my wife is not overly fond of critters, she and the cats tolerate one another.
I write Speculative Fiction, mainly Fantasy, and Science Fiction. My current project is an epic fantasy that has a mind of its own.
I also enjoys photography, camping, reading, good movies, and of course telling fun stories.